Category: International Relations

Burma’s government remains “in denial” about alleged atrocities by its military against minority Rohingya Muslims, officials present at a meeting in Bangladesh said, despite leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s pledge to investigate the findings of a devastating UN report.

Bangladesh is determined to relocate Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Burma to a Bay of Bengal island that critics say is unliveable, a Bangladeshi minister said, adding that the move is temporary and Burma will ultimately have to take them back.

Seeking to capitalise on US President Donald Trump’s controversial new travel restrictions, companies and officials in Asia said they would target greater tourism and education ties with Muslims worried about the curbs.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who arrived in Burma on Friday, said the former British colony’s transition to democracy was not yet complete but that Britain would offer its full support as a friend.

The United Nations should intervene in Arakan State to stop further escalation of violence against Rohingya Muslims and avoid another genocide like in Cambodia and Rwanda, said the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s special envoy to Burma.

More than 65,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled conflict-torn northern Arakan State in recent months, seeking shelter across the border in Bangladesh, according to startling figures released by the United Nations this week.

US President-elect Donald Trump has not made any public statements on what his administration’s policy toward Burma will be, but he is unlikely to take a strong personal interest in the country as his predecessor has.

A special envoy of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will begin top-level talks in Bangladesh on Wednesday, as the United Nations said the Rohingya crisis prompted 65,000 people to flee Burma for Bangladesh in the past three months.

Thailand’s Foreign Minister, Don Pramudwinai, has spoken for the first time in defence of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is increasingly being accused worldwide of ignoring the plight of Burma’s Muslim minority in Arakan State.

China hopes Burma will ensure peace and stability along their border and keep stray bullets out of its neighbour’s territory, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, after a senior Chinese military commander visited the Southeast Asian country this week.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s stern rebuke to Burma for a military-led crackdown on Rohingya Muslims was a rarity among Southeast Asian nations, who adhere to a policy of non-interference in each other’s domestic affairs.